Le soufisme a l'epoque ottomane, XVIe--XVIIIe sieclelSufism in the Ottoman Era. 16th-18th Century.

• Author: Gall, Dina Le
• Position: Book review

Le soufisme a l'epoque ottomane, XVIe--XVIIIe sieclelSufism in the Ottoman Era. 16th-18th Century. Edited by RACHIDA CHIN and CATHERINE MAYEUR-JAOUEN. Cahier des Annales Islamologiques, vol. 29. Cairo: INSTITUT FRAKAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 2010. Pp viii + 442. [euro]40.

This volume originated in a colloquium on Egyptian Sufism in the Ottoman period held at the Institut francais d'archeologie orientale in Cairo in 2007, itself a continuation of two earlier colloquia and volumes devoted to sainthood and hagiographic literature and to Egyptian Sufism during the Mamluk era respectively. Perhaps inspired by Sufis themselves, the approach is decidedly inclusive: only five of the seventeen chapters appearing here center on Sufism in Egypt, with others examining Sufis and Sufism in Istanbul, Damascus, the Maghreb, Arabia, Central Asia, and Indonesia. While the canvass has been broadened somewhat, there is a certain lack of clarity about focus. This is not simply an exploration of Egyptian Sufism or even of Ottoman Sufism, as the title might imply. In the introduction the editors suggest rather Sufism in the Ottoman period "as seen from Egypt," a somewhat ambiguous definition. Compounding the ambiguity is an introduction (however valuable in itself) that the editors have chosen to devote to surveying some dynamics of Sufism and Islamic culture in the Ottoman period (especially in Egypt, the Holy Cities of the 1-.1ijoz, and the Arab lands) and the historiography thereof. There is no explicit discussion here of the issues contributors set out to explore, the methodological imperatives guiding them, or their respective contributions to our understanding of Sufism in the Ottoman period.

The order of the volume is roughly chronological, with the first six chapters after the introduction focusing on aspects of the evolution of Sufi practice and doctrine from the medieval and especially Mamluk period to the Ottoman era. Denis Gril begins with "De la klarga a la tariqa," a broad investigation of treatises on khitva (Sufi investiture) from the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries and how they reflect on (1) successive changes in the notion and practice of initiatic investiture and (2) the transition from Sufi affiliation as a personal tie to a master, to more formalized Sufi "ways." to the hierarchical system of Rena/ of the eighteenth century. Richard McGregor's "Is This the End of Medieval Sufism?"--the first of four chapters centered on Egypt--seeks to identify through a study of the Egyptian Wafa'iyya a new mode of Sufi affiliation. "Transversal affiliation," he asserts, newly allowed Sufis to express public identification with p*ug other than their own, for example by writing about these Atrial's devotional practice or spiritual masters. Adam Sabra's "Household Sufism in Sixteenth-Century Egypt" examines a prominent family of Sufi scholars, the Bakris of Mamluk and Ottoman times, as they pursued the hereditary model of transmitting Sufi authority to its logical conclusion, building an extended household of family members, followers, servants, and slaves that was in some ways akin to those built by military families. Through the fortunes of the Bakris, the author explores broader aspects of the process of building Sufi authority during this era, including Sufism's proclivity for narrowing social...